Disposable face masks have been in use for the past fifty years and have a wide variety of applications in today's workplace. The disposable face mask provides protection for the wearer against bodily infection of bacteria and some viruses by patients in surgery or in other hospital, health care, or nursing home settings. Also, it provides to the wearer protection against upper respiratory ailments of the lungs, throat, nose, and mouth by protecting against harmful particulate matter.
Such particulate matter can be mineral, liquid, vapor, dust, or fibrous dust from mining or lumber manufacturing operations; or in chemical/pharmaceutical manufacturing operations which produce organic/inorganic dusts and/or liquid vapors; and/or in environmental contamination clean-ups of oil spills, asbestos dust, and from contaminated water wells, lakes, etc.
The disposable face mask has been somewhat standardized in that most masks today have multiple layers or plies of different non-woven fabric materials that form a composite material laminate that is used for the nose and mouth section of the mask. Examples of the different types of non-woven fabric layers typically used in the face mask composite laminate are as follows: cellulose; fiberglass, cloth, polyurethane, polyethylene, vinyl acetate, polypropylene, polyesters, polyamides, etc. Different combinations of the aforementioned materials have been used to form layers or plies that are made into a composite material laminate for the body of the face mask. A typical laminate used in a disposable face mask has been a cellulosic first layer, a polyethylene middle layer, and a chemically-coated polyethylene outer layer which forms a three-ply or layered laminate for the body of a face mask. This type of three-ply face mask typically is produced and used in the present marketplace.
Currently available disposable face masks do not prevent the passage of liquids that are external to the mask of the wearer. Thus, there is a need for a liquid-resistant, disposable face mask that will allow the passage of air but prevents the passing of liquids through the mask by trapping the liquid in the mask in order to protect the wearer.